Heartiest thanks from the Guardian for your very kind message dated March 21st. He feels so deeply touched by your kind words, and is specially moved at the Naw-Ruz greetings which you have conveyed to him so beautifully, and all of which he fully reciprocates. He sincerely hopes that this New Baha'i Year we have just entered will bring upon the entire Esslingen community untold blessings, and that through them you will all be filled with a renewed determination to carry on your labours for the spread of the Cause.

The Guardian feels also very thankful and happy to learn that three new believers have recently joined your group. He is praying fervently to Baha'u'llah that these new members may increasingly gain in spiritual power and insight, and thus become valuable helpers to your a.s.sembly.

With his renewed greetings and best wishes...

[From the Guardian:]

Dearly-beloved friends:

Your New-Year greetings rejoiced my heart and filled it with loving grat.i.tude. I prize the a.s.surance you give me, and feel deeply thankful for it. I will, from the depths of my heart, pray for you that the Almighty may rain His blessings upon you, may fulfil your highest hopes, and a.s.sist you to advance the best interests of His glorious and sacred Faith,

Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi

LETTER OF 19 OCTOBER 1936

19 October 1936

The Guardian has received the letter you had written him on behalf of the Esslingen a.s.sembly and dated September 27th, and wishes you to convey to your fellow-members in that body his thanks and appreciation, and his grat.i.tude for the sentiments they had expressed to him through you. He very deeply values the a.s.surances of love, loyalty and devotion you have given him, and is ardently praying that Baha'u'llah may abundantly reward you for all these evidences of your undying attachment to His Cause.

The Guardian wishes me also to extend his grateful thanks and his hearty congratulations to your a.s.sembly and to the community of believers in Esslingen for the unprecedented success that has crowned your efforts in connection with the organization of this year's session of the German Baha'i Summer School. He is praying from the bottom of his heart for your continued guidance throughout the succeeding years...

[From the Guardian:]

Dear co-workers:

I am deeply moved by the remarkable evidences of zeal and of activity manifested by the believers of Esslingen. My heart is filled with unspeakable grat.i.tude. Persevere in your efforts and rest a.s.sured.

Your true brother, Shoghi

LETTER OF 25 OCTOBER 1936

25 October 1936

Your kind letter of the fifth instant enclosing photostatic reproductions of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Tablets revealed to you and to your dear mother have all duly reached our beloved Guardian and have been read with profoundest interest and appreciation by him.

He wishes me to thank you for so kindly sending him copies of these Tablets of the Master which he will keep as a gift from you in the International Baha'i Archives on Mt. Carmel. Needless to say how deeply he appreciates this gift, and how much he considers it of value to this first Archives of the Cause in the Holy Land.

In closing may I express his admiration and grat.i.tude for the services you are so devotedly rendering our beloved Cause in Esslingen. The Esslingen community owes you indeed a great debt, and can never be too grateful for the manifold accomplishments you have, steadily and splendidly, contributed towards its development, ever since the early days of the Cause in Germany.

The Guardian wishes you also to convey his thanks and appreciation to dear Mrs. Schweizer. He is grieved to learn of her indisposition, but hopes and fervently prays that by the time this letter reaches you she will have been completely cured and restored to full health.

With renewed greetings to you both, and also to the community of believers in Esslingen,

[From the Guardian:]

Dear and prized co-worker:

I am deeply touched by your splendid and highly valued gift. I will continue to pray for your good-health, your happiness and the uninterrupted extension of your historic activities and achievements.

Please a.s.sure dear Mrs. Schweizer of my special and fervent prayers for her speedy recovery. Her health is so precious to us all.

Your true brother, Shoghi

LETTER OF 3 MARCH 1937

3 March 1937

I am instructed by our beloved Guardian to inform you of the receipt of your letter of February 21st written on behalf of the Baha'i a.s.sembly of Rostock, and to ask you to convey to them, and also to our dear friend Mr.

Lorenzen, his grateful thanks for the enlarged copy of the photograph of the North German Baha'i Congress which they have been so kind in sending him. It is indeed a most beautiful and impressive picture, and will be placed very soon in the Mansion of Baha'u'llah at Bahji, where it will be seen by both the Baha'i and non-Baha'i visitors. Please, thank very warmly your fellow-members in the Rostock a.s.sembly for this gift, and express to them the Guardian's hope that, through them, as well as through the united and combined efforts of all North German Baha'i centers, this year's conference will be even more successful than the one held last summer, and that the outcome of it will be to open new fields of teaching for the Cause in Northern Germany.

LETTER OF 23 JUNE 1937

23 June 1937

The Guardian has been most deeply touched by your message of the third inst., and wishes me to a.s.sure you both of his profound appreciation of the sentiments you have expressed to him on the occasion of his marriage.

It was most kind and thoughtful of you to have written him in such moving terms, and to have given him such firm a.s.surances of your undying loyalty and devotion to the Cause. He is ardently praying on your behalf that the spirit which is animating you may ever grow deeper, and may translate itself into sustained and whole-hearted service to the Faith in the beloved land of Germany. He is specially entreating the Beloved that the difficulties which you and your beloved co-workers in that land are so unexpectedly encountering may be gradually removed, and that you may be again set free to a.s.sist in spreading the Teachings among your fellow-countrymen.

LETTER OF 20 OCTOBER 1937(16)

20 October 1937

Ihre andere Frage, Feuerbestattung: Baha'u'llah hat in Seinem Gesetz-Buch, dem "Aqdas", bestimmte Gesetze fur Begrabung geoffenbart. Und 'Abdu'l-Baha sagte, da.s.s der menschliche Korper langsam durch einen Prozess zusammengestellt worden ist. So auch sollte er durch Natur auseinander gehen.

Wegen Ihrer Frage um die Esperanto-Zeitschrift in Holland, der Huter glaubt, da.s.s jetzt ist keine Zeit, um etwas in dieser Beziehung anzufangen. FRuher hat sie unbedingt viel fur die Verbreitung der Sache getan, aber jetzt ist es unmoglich und auch nicht beratbar (advisable).

Wie Sie vielleicht schon wissen, Lydia arbeitet in Amerika jetzt.